Macbeth
Mr. Raber
Basic Information
• First play written under King James I
• Shakespeare added a lot of things that James
would identify with:
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Male rule
Witchcraft
Heirs
An innocent Banquo
Drive:
• Determination and predestination
• An unnatural force
Theme: Equivocation
• Definition:
 Open to two or more interpretations and often
intended to mislead; ambiguous.
 The use of words or expressions susceptible to double
signification
• The use of equivocation is one of the most
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important themes in the play
This is especially used by witches!
Theme: Equivocation of the Witches
• Prophecies are ambiguous
• Full of paradox and confusion
 “Fair is foul and foul is fair”
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They speak with alliteration in rhymed couplets
They add elements of confusion to their words
They are able to confuse Macbeth easily
They speak of the future but are unable to affect
it directly (ex. Toy w/ sailor but not completely destroy his “bark”/boat)
Theme: Interpretation of Witches
• “Weird” comes from Old English “Wyrd” meaning fate
• Macbeth’s Interpretation:
 The witches literally suggest future
 Must act on predictions to gain truth
• Banquo’s Interpretation:
 The witches may possibly control elements that may affect
the future
 Must not act on their musings…if so, disaster may follow
• The witches add:
 Mirroring/Foiling
 Doubling
Mirroring: Mac. and Lady Mac.
• Mirroring, also could be referred to as FOILING,
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heightens the differences between the characters
Regarding a ruler:
Macbeth is the double for Duncan:
 Macbeth is violent and cruel
 Duncan is peaceable and rewarding
• Regarding a woman/mother:
Lady Macbeth is the double of Lady Macduff:
 Lady Macbeth casts off her femininity and has no
problem killing even her own child
 Lady Macduff is the model of a good mother and
would die to save her child
Theme: Doubling
• The witches prepare for Macbeth’s visit:
 “double, double, toil and trouble” (IV.1-10)
• Through equivocation we know that Macbeth will
only listen to, or comprehend half of their message
• When he hears the apparitions muses, he realizes
that “stones have been known to move and trees to
speak” (III.4-154) but he never considers the
possibility that he may be defeated
Theme: Doubling
• The “show of kings”
 Doubling to the extreme
 Each king is a descendant of Banquo
 The 8th king is actually James I (who was an
actual ruler and watched the play)
 This king holds up a mirror and at one time or
another reflected the real James I face in it
 This carries the effect of doubling into the
audience as well
Theme: Doubling
• Plot points and scenes also double:
 The two scenes where the witches talk with
Macbeth
 Both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth have
troubled sleep
 Two murders committed on stage and two
committed offstage
 Two scenes of mother and child
Theme:
Visions and
Hallucinations of Guilt
• “Dagger of the mind”
• The dagger is a physical manifestation of the
guilt Macbeth feels about killing Duncan
• All of the ghostly occurrences (ghost of Banquo)
are psychological
• Macbeth cannot pray or sleep
Theme: Stains
• The Macbeths are obsessed with stains:
 Lady Macbeth’s “out damn spot”
 As early as Act II we see them struggling with stains:
• “All great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood/Clean from his
hand…”
• “A little water clears us of this deed” (II.2-77-87)
 The stain of blood seems to follow them:
• Banquo’s blood even comes back to the castle on the
murderer’s face
 “There’s blood upon thy face” (III.4 13-14)
 Blood stains are also used by Lady Macbeth to setup
the guards for Duncan’s murder
Theme: Manhood
• When Macbeth asks the murders if they had the courage to kill Banquo
they reply:
 “We are men my liege” (III.1.102)
• Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have opposing viewpoints on this issue:
 Lady says a man:
• Uses whatever means necessary (I.7 55-60)
• Must cast away kindness, tenderness and affection (I.5 45-60)
• Even Duncan rewards tasks like Macbeth’s slaying from “stern to chops”
in Act 1
• Macbeth is therefore confronted with a paradox:
 As his ability to shed more blood grows to please his wife, his men
desert him
Theme: Light vs. Dark
ARCHETYPAL LINK
• The murderers observes that the sun is
setting as Banquo and Fleance approach
 Banquo is a bright and noble light in contrast
to Macbeth’s darkness
 It is highly symbolic that the last light of day
goes out as he dies
The Problem of the
Murderer
rd
3
• Who is this 3rd murderer that appears?
• Many critics have hypothesized that it is:
 Macbeth himself
• Recall that Macbeth did not trust the murderer’s “we are men” reply
 Lady Macbeth
• Recall that she had great interest in what Macbeth was planning next
• She speaks of Banquo’s death in her sleepwalking
 A thane or servant
 The three witches in disguise
• The 3rd murderer means one of two things:
 If Macbeth knew about this it would back up the fact that he does not
trust anyone
 Also it rounds out the next theme, the power of 3’s
Theme: The Power of 3’s
• Throughout this tragedy many
actions/characters/etc. appear in threes:
 Applied to Macbeth:
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There are three witches
Three murderer’s
Three murders by Macbeth (Duncan, Banquo, Macduffs)
Three original prophesies to both Macbeth and Banquo
Three speaking apparitions
 There is power in the number three dating back to
Grimm’s Fairy Tales where characters received three
wishes
The Problem of the Witches
• Are they real, or like the dagger, are the figments
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of Macbeth’s mind
They only voice ambitions that Macbeth already
has
The problem with the witches not being real is
that Banquo sees them too
They appear to Macbeth because he is a hollow
man devoid of the ambition needed
THEME:
The Corrupting Power of Unchecked Ambition
The main theme of Macbeth—the destruction wrought when ambition goes
unchecked by moral constraints—finds its most powerful expression in the
play’s two main characters. Macbeth is a courageous Scottish general who is
not naturally inclined to commit evil deeds, yet he deeply desires power and
advancement. He kills Duncan against his better judgment and afterward stews
in guilt and paranoia. Toward the end of the play he descends into a kind of
frantic, boastful madness.
THEME:
The Corrupting Power of Unchecked Ambition
Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, pursues her goals with greater determination,
yet she is less capable of withstanding the repercussions of her immoral acts.
One of Shakespeare’s most forcefully drawn female characters, she spurs her
husband mercilessly to kill Duncan and urges him to be strong in the murder’s
aftermath, but she is eventually driven to distraction by the effect of Macbeth’s
repeated bloodshed on her conscience. In each case, ambition—helped, of
course, by the malign prophecies of the witches—is what drives the couple to
ever more terrible atrocities. The problem, the play suggests, is that once one
decides to use violence to further one’s quest for power, it is difficult to stop.
There are always potential threats to the throne—Banquo, Fleance, Macduff—
and it is always tempting to use violent means to dispose of them.
THEME
The Relationship between Cruelty and Masculinity
Characters in Macbeth frequently dwell on issues of gender.
Lady Macbeth manipulates her husband by questioning his
manhood, wishes that she herself could be “unsexed,” and does
not contradict Macbeth when he says that a woman like her
should give birth only to boys. In the same manner that Lady
Macbeth goads her husband on to murder, Macbeth provokes
the murderers he hires to kill Banquo by questioning their
manhood. Such acts show that both Macbeth and Lady
Macbeth equate masculinity with naked aggression, and
whenever they converse about manhood, violence soon
follows. Their understanding of manhood allows the political
order depicted in the play to descend into chaos.
Cont.
• The Relationship between Cruelty and Masculinity
At the same time, however, the audience cannot help noticing that women
are also sources of violence and evil. The witches’ prophecies spark
Macbeth’s ambitions and then encourage his violent behavior; Lady
Macbeth provides the brains and the will behind her husband’s plotting; and
the only divine being to appear is Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft.
Arguably, Macbeth traces the root of chaos and evil to women, which has
led some critics to argue that this is Shakespeare’s most misogynistic play.
While the male characters are just as violent and prone to evil as the women,
the aggression of the female characters is more striking because it goes
against prevailing expectations of how women ought to behave. Lady
Macbeth’s behavior certainly shows that women can be as ambitious and
cruel as men. Whether because of the constraints of her society or because
she is not fearless enough to kill, Lady Macbeth relies on deception and
manipulation rather than violence to achieve her ends.
Cont.
• The Relationship between Cruelty and Masculinity
Ultimately, the play does put forth a revised and less destructive definition
of manhood. In the scene where Macduff learns of the murders of his wife
and child, Malcolm consoles him by encouraging him to take the news in
“manly” fashion, by seeking revenge upon Macbeth. Macduff shows the
young heir apparent that he has a mistaken understanding of masculinity. To
Malcolm’s suggestion, “Dispute it like a man,” Macduff replies, “I shall do
so. But I must also feel it as a man” (IV.iii.221–223). At the end of the play,
Siward receives news of his son’s death rather complacently. Malcolm
responds: “He’s worth more sorrow [than you have expressed] / And that I’ll
spend for him” (V.xi.16–17). Malcolm’s comment shows that he has learned
the lesson Macduff gave him on the sentient nature of true masculinity. It
also suggests that, with Malcolm’s coronation, order will be restored to the
Kingdom of Scotland.
Theme
• The Difference between Kingship and Tyranny
In the play, Duncan is always referred to as a “king,” while Macbeth soon becomes
known as the “tyrant.” The difference between the two types of rulers seems to be
expressed in a conversation that occurs in Act IV, scene iii, when Macduff meets
Malcolm in England. In order to test Macduff’s loyalty to Scotland, Malcolm pretends
that he would make an even worse king than Macbeth. He tells Macduff of his
reproachable qualities—among them a thirst for personal power and a violent
temperament, both of which seem to characterize Macbeth perfectly. On the other hand,
Malcolm says, “The king-becoming graces / [are] justice, verity, temp’rance, stableness,
/ Bounty, perseverance, mercy, [and] lowliness” (IV.iii.92–93). The model king, then,
offers the kingdom an embodiment of order and justice, but also comfort and affection.
Under him, subjects are rewarded according to their merits, as when Duncan makes
Macbeth thane of Cawdor after Macbeth’s victory over the invaders. Most important, the
king must be loyal to Scotland above his own interests. Macbeth, by contrast, brings
only chaos to Scotland—symbolized in the bad weather and bizarre supernatural
events—and offers no real justice, only a habit of capriciously murdering those he sees
as a threat. As the embodiment of tyranny, he must be overcome by Malcolm so that
Scotland can have a true king once more.
Symbol
• Blood
Blood is everywhere in Macbeth, beginning with the opening battle between the
Scots and the Norwegian invaders, which is described in harrowing terms by
the wounded captain in Act I, scene ii. Once Macbeth and Lady Macbeth
embark upon their murderous journey, blood comes to symbolize their guilt, and
they begin to feel that their crimes have stained them in a way that cannot be
washed clean. “Will all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood / Clean from my
hand?” Macbeth cries after he has killed Duncan, even as his wife scolds him
and says that a little water will do the job (II.ii.58–59). Later, though, she comes
to share his horrified sense of being stained: “Out, damned spot; out, I say . . .
who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?” she
asks as she wanders through the halls of their castle near the close of the play
(V.i.30–34). Blood symbolizes the guilt that sits like a permanent stain on the
consciences of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, one that hounds them to their
graves.
Symbols
• The Weather/Nature
As in other Shakespearean tragedies, Macbeth’s
grotesque murder spree is accompanied by a number of
unnatural occurrences in the natural realm. From the
thunder and lightning that accompany the witches’
appearances to the terrible storms that rage on the night
of Duncan’s murder, these violations of the natural order
reflect corruption in the moral and political orders.
Finally…
Any Questions?